Love HIIT Body Guide Fitness Program – BEFORE/AFTER HIIT Results

(WARNING: this post is a novel)

Ok guys – it’s finally Before/After time from my fitness program. Yikes – I feel nervous. I mentioned in this post that I would share my results on June 30th (last Friday). Welllll, I took these pics last Friday and def meant to post them then, but life happened. So here they are now!

If you’re new to my fitness posts, here’s the low-down: I put myself on a little fitness program back at the end of March because I had gotten stuck at around 5-8 lbs higher than I wanted to be, and I needed a push and some accountability. So here’s what I did:

For my Workouts…

I have been doing the Love HIIT Body Guide by my girl Sara. Started back at the end of March and just kept repeating her 4-week program until now (you can read past posts about that here, here, here & here).

For my Nutrition…

For about the last four weeks, I hired a Macro coach and started ‘counting macros’ as they say (my coach’s name is Allison Carter btw and she’s amazing). Why did I do this you guys? Here’s why: while I would never claim to be some expert, I do know enough about fitness/working out etc. to know that changes to the bod are about 20% how you’re working out and about 80% how you’re eating. I have a cousin (Kelsey Arnett, also crazy into a fitness program and also amazing) who was seeing ridiculous results from macro counting, and it inspired me to give hiring a macro coach a try. Plus Allison’s rates are like dirt cheap compared to most peeps who do this, so it didn’t require breaking the bank. Huzzah!

DISCLAIMER: I’m 100% aware of my crazy stomach situation. Welcome to unfortunate genes where your skin doesn’t snap back after having babies. My mama, my sisters, me – we all got it. And it’s the type of thing that has to be surgically taken care of – no fitness program removes stretched out skin. But ya know what? OH WELL. I’m not going to pretend that I love it cuz I don’t – but, I’m also feeling less and less worried or self conscious or ashamed of it. It is what it is. It’s a by-product of one of the very best and most miraculous things I’ve ever gotten to take part of (pregnancy/being a mama). So 1-2-3 I’m over it.

So how do I feel about your HIIT results?

Here’s how I feel about my HIIT results: the short answer is that I feel great about them! I can see a visible difference in how my body looks and in how I feel. Mission accomplished!

The longer answer: Do I think that my HIIT results could have been more intense in three months if I had been a bit more consistent in my eating, or never missed a workout? Sure. You may recall this post where I confess to having fallen off the wagon for a bit in the middle of all of this. But ya know what guys? LIFE. HAPPENS. And frankly, I’m more stoked to be able to show you real, realistic results — meaning the kind that can come not by being perfect or by never deviating from the plan (cuz how realistic is that?), but rather from getting right back on the wagon any time you fall off and just trying to be a little more consistent every day and every week. That’s what these are.

And what I’m psyched about is that this feels like something I can actually sustain. It feels like a lifestyle – not a crash diet, not a sprint to some ‘goal’. No. It felt and feels like something I could and want to continue. And I fully intend to! That’s the biggest win of all in my mind.

Ok! Enough about all that. Let’s get to some Q&A! I’ve gotten a slew of questions over the past several weeks about this program, so I thought I’d take the opportunity in this post to address all of those. You down with that? Let’s do this thang!

MY CURRENT FITNESS PROGRAM: Q&A!

Also: Sara’s body guide has a lot of plyo metrics (jump training), and I feel like it’s done wonders for how my bum feels. Don’t get me wrong – getting rid of the cellulite situation back there is still a work in progress, BUT I’ve noticed a difference for sure.

What are you doing for your nutrition plan?

As I mentioned above, I have been counting macros for my nutrition plan. What the H does ‘counting macros’ mean? It means that you calculate the grams of carbs, proteins, and fats that you should eat in order to reach your goals, and then you try to keep your diet each day within those numbers. I use My Fitness Pal to track what I’m eating and to ensure that I’m staying within my numbers.

Note: figuring out what your macros should be is not the easiest thing in the world. Which is why I hired Allison for help and turn to Kelsey all the time with questions too. Allison determined what my initial macro numbers should be based on my starting height and weight and my goals. Then she wrote me a meal plan that kept me within those numbers and also included foods that I like to eat. In all honesty, I feel like it would have been much harder for me to succeed at this if I hadn’t hired Allison.

However, if you are around Sara’s height (she’s 5’7), her meal plan would be a great starting point for your nutrition. It is based on counting macros as well, and if you’re around the same height as Sara, the numbers should be fairly similar for you. I’m four inches shorter than her, so I felt like I needed a more customized meal plan.

You can also use this website to determine your macros yourself! Then I highly recommend downloading the My Fitness Pal app to track everything.

Short answer: the program is definitely varied enough that it isn’t boring. It’s a 4-week program, and each week has workouts that are broken into body-part splits. Example: Monday – Shoulders, Tuesday – cardio and abs, Wednesday – chest and triceps, Thursday – cardio and abs, Friday – back and biceps, Saturday – legs. That’s kind of how it’s broken down each week, but every week the exercises are different. Once you’ve gone through the full 4-week program, you just start over! I’ve repeated it multiple times and never found it NOT challenging. You guys, I’m telling you – these workouts will kick your butt.

For a better visual of what the workouts are like, you should go follow Sara’s two Instagram accounts: @LovebyLynn and @LovebyLynnFitness. She posts videos that give a really good idea of what her workouts are like.

How long does each workout take?

Each workout takes about 25-35 minutes. This is my absolute favorite part about her program. It’s short and sweet but still so effective!

If you do her 30-day ab challenge as well, I’d add another 10 minutes or so for that, and if you decide to tack on cardio, that would be another 15-20 minutes a few days per week (or daily if you wanted).

So in all, it could be about an hour workout if you do everything, every single time. I honestly really struggle being in the gym for that long, so I’m rarely there for longer than 45 mins.

After that, you literally just get your butt in the gym, pull up the e-book on your phone for the first workout, and just try it out! As with anything brand new, you may feel a bit awkward at first, and it will likely feel super, super hard (it did for me… kind of still does if I’m being honest). BUT don’t let that discourage you man. When I’m in the gym, I literally pretend that I’m the only person there. I try to block everyone else out so that I’m not self conscious, cuz that really interferes with your workouts in my opinion. You can’t be worried about looking stupid and have an all-out, awesome workout. So just get shameless and workout like nobody’s watching!

How do you stay motivated for your HIIT results?

I do lots of different things to stay motivated. These are the things that have been most effective for me lately:

Accountability. I cannot stress enough what a difference accountability has made in keeping me motivated – and in helping me get actual results. Knowing that I’ll be checking in with someone and that I want to be able to say that I did what I said I was going to do… it’s made all the difference. Accountability is why I initially decided to post before and after pics on my public blog in the first place. I knew it would force me to do the dang thang even when I didn’t feel like it. Sara, Allison, and Kelsey have all been such great accountability partners.

TIP: You guys, you absolutely must find a friend or a group of people who you can link arms with on your fitness journey. It is imperative in my opinion if you’re serious about reaching any of your fitness goals. These are the peeps that keep you going – that keep you motivated. These are the peeps that get it – they get what you’re doing and will support your efforts. These are the peeps you text when you feel like giving up or get discouraged. YOU NEED THESE PEOPLE! I don’t care if you get on Insta and search the #fitfam hashtag to find some fitness nerds and then befriend some peeps that way – like somehow, get a squad around you so you can cheer each other on.

Hanging up my goals. This is something I’ve done for a looooong time, for ALL of my different goals. I’m a super visual person, so seeing my goals has been vital in keeping me motivated and focused. I may or may not also hang up pictures that I find motivating… i.e. an old photo of myself when I was heavier, or a pic of myself when I was at my fittest, or a pic of someone else whose bod is goals for me.

Try something new. This has ended up being a big one for me. Cuz here’s the deal guys – I’m gonna get reeeeeeally REAL with you now: I gained over 60 lbs in my pregnancy with Charlie. At least that’s what I think I gained – I honestly refused to calculate it exactly because I genuinely did NOT want to know. I still refuse. Anyway, after she was born, I had A LOT of weight to lose. And I found that over the year that it took me to really shed all of that off, I hit all sorts of ‘plateaus’ along the way. Not even plateaus in the true sense, where you’re doing everything right but your body just isn’t responding. No, I mean motivational plateaus. Like I’d do well and lose some weight, and then I’d transition into a phase where I just suddenly didn’t care as much and felt unmotivated. And every time that happened, it took doing something new – and usually something kind of structured and formal – to snap me back into a place of being motivated and excited about reaching my fitness goals. No really guys – like I did Weight Watchers even for a little bit after Char was born to get me past a motivation slump (which actually helped me TONS for the stage I was in). That was part of my motivation to try Sara’s program – it was new and different, and I knew if I added some accountability to it by posting on here about it, it could totally get me past another motivation plateau. And it definitely did!

Buy cute workout clothes. I actually need to up my game in this department myself if we’re being real. I do honestly find though that having cute workout clothes totally helps the motivation factor. Below are some cutie workout things that I’ve been coveting!

Shop Cutie Activewear

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Whew! That was a ton of info, but I hope it added value for someone out there! For the record: these fitness posts aren’t going anywhere. I’ve always loved this stuff and fully intend to keep posting about it, if that’s alright with you! Plus, I still have a ways to go before I’ve really hit my own personal fitness goals, so I’ll be over here just continuing to plug away at it! Hope you’ll join me! 🙂

Let me know if you have any other questions on my HIIT results or about any of this!

Comments

Your amazing! Everything your juggling being a momma, plus being a momma of cute Charlie and the emotionalness of that, and your awesome blog. And everything else you have to do daily which I’m sure is tons. Your just so lovely about it all yet so real it’s refreshing and inspiring!

You are beautiful! Thanks for doing this review! Super helpful. Do you think the Love HIIT Body Guide could be done from home? (I have basic workout equipment like a range of weights, Bowflex dumbells, yoga mat, etc.). What equipment is needed? Thanks in advance!

I think it can TOTALLY be done from home. That’s one of my favorite things about it actually! Pretty much the only equipment you’d need is free weights and ankle weights if you can order yourself some of those. Maybe a mat to lay on but it sounds like you already have that. With that equipment, you could do these workouts from home NO PROB. And a lot of the workouts require no equipment (the cardio and ab workouts for example), so you could totally do those when you’re traveling… from anywhere! Hope that helps! xoxo

Hi, Shannon! First of all, this was the first blog post I’ve read of yours and I really liked it. Super motivating and real! Thank you! Second, I know you mentioned your loose skin and there is a body firming lotion by Nerium that totally works to tighten skin. It’s a direct sales company so if you know someone that sells it ask them about this stuff. If you don’t my friend Lynette sells it. Her Instagram is @metandz. The stuff really works. My sister had twins and had so much extra loose skin and there was a visible difference in a couple weeks. Give it a shot! Look forward to your next posts!

You look great ! I just wanted to mention the Fascia Blaster you could try to get the skin tightened. You could just buy the Mini 2. It increases blood flow and helps thespian tighten. Read about it at fascia blaster.com . Invented by Ashley Black. I have used it and it does work. You can also join the fascia blaster group on FB and see pics etc. I do not sell this, just have experience and want to throw it out there if you want to try it.

Thank you for this! It helps specifically with loose skin? Not just cellulite? I’ve actually heard about the Fascia Blaster but wasn’t sure it would work for stretched out skin. Is that what your issue was and it worked? Thanks for the info! xoxo

You are as beautiful as ever and you never fail to be an inspiration. I wanted to cry when I read your “1-2-3 I’m over it” because that is something I learned from you way back in college and I still say it. So simple but so wise!

Okay Shan, you are seriously one of my fitness Heroes. So, do you remember that picture you took in front of the Eiffel Tower with Chase? Your legs in that picture, are amazing! And what got me off my butt to get back in shape. So I tried your little love by Lynn thing and over the last 8 weeks have been making it happen. I am back into the jeans wore when I first met Kelly! Who thought this 45 year old lady could do that! Thanks girl- you(and J-Lo, let’s be honest) are my fitness heroes!